Punjab in Sports: Olympic Podium – Punjab Province (Pre-Independence Era)

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Punjab’s Olympic journey began with Dalip Singh competing in the long jump at the 1924 Paris Olympics, followed by Mohammad Salim in lawn tennis. In the next edition of the Games held in Amsterdam in 1928, India won its first Olympic gold, thanks to the men’s hockey team.

In 1928, three players from undivided Punjab, Feroz Khan, Kehar Singh Gill, and Broomie Eric Pinniger, were part of the squad.

Feroz and Kehar Singh were products of Lahore colleges’ hockey system, while Pinniger was employed with North-Western Railways Punjab and posted in Lahore. Pinniger was the vice-captain of the squad and later took over the captaincy after regular captain Jaipal Singh Munda left the team.

Indian hockey started in Kolkata and initially thrived in the early 19th century with contributions from Anglo-Indians. The sport gradually spread to princely states and other cities. By the 1930s, Punjab had emerged as a powerhouse. Jobs in Punjab Police and the strong inter-college circuit of Panjab University shifted the focus of Indian hockey to the province.

In the 1932 national hockey championship held before the Olympics, Punjab became the champion, with seven players from the state making it to the 15-member Olympic squad. The Indian men’s hockey team won its second gold.

Syed Lal Shah Bokhari, who was working with Punjab Provincial Services, was the captain of the team.

Out of the seven players from Punjab, five – Bokhari, Gurmeet Singh Kullar, Sayed Mohammad Jaffar, Masuad Ali Khan Minhas, and Sardar Muhammad Aslam – honed their skills during their college days in Lahore, while both Broome Eric Pinniger and Arthur Charles Hind were from the North-Western Railways Punjab.

In 1936, Punjab lost to Bengal in the national championship, which served as the selection trials for the Olympics. As a result, only three players from Punjab made it to the squad for the Berlin Games, where the hockey team completed its hat-trick of gold medals.

Sayed Mohammad Jaffar, Ali Iqtidar Shah Dara, and Gurucharan Singh Grewal from Punjab were part of the 1936 Olympic squad. All of them were from Government College Lahore.

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